Where the Sakura blossoms
by Varosch
Summary: Ever since Leviathan has sunk Kyushu, Japan is rapidly declining. But there are still people and Parahumans out there who give their best to improve Japan's state. [DEAD]
1. Chapter 1 - Prolog

**Chapter 1**

She was hidden beneath a stack of clothes in the closet of her mother. She heard her cries coming from downstairs.

 _She loved her dad. Despite the crisis, despite the catastrophe of Kyushu he was still an earnest person who tried his best to help. He was a politician and had enough money to give their family a comfortable live. They were a happy family._

Her mother had said that she was going to take care of them. She knew she was lying to both of them and she was old enough to know what was currently happening to her mother.

 _Her father would sometimes show her his work and a few times he had taken her to a charity event. She admired his conviction that everything would be alright. He told her often that the other politicians were to scared and stubborn to do the right thing._

She cried silently trying to suppress her sobs. She tried to not think, to not think about what was happening to her mother, what they would do when they became bored of it, what they would do to her if they found her and most importantly not to think about her father.

 _She would often tell her dad that she believed in him, that everything would go his way that they would finally listen. She often had heated arguments with her classmates about what the government should do. Every time she would tell them what her dad told her._

The last one proved to be impossible. He hadn't even tried to apologize. He fled in the only way possible, leaving herself and her mother behind. The only thing he left behind was an opened and crumbled letter.

 _She lived a happy and live, convinced in the ideals from her dad. That was until one day she came home from school and found the cold body of her dad in the kitchen. Next to him lay a letter which did more to destroy her happy little world than the death of her father._

A letter from a person she didn't know, while congratulating her father on falsifying records from the government warned him that he shouldn't have tried the same with the money records of his benefactors, the yakuza. He owed them double the sum he had stolen from them and he would face additional punishment for his disloyalty.

 _Her dad- her father had committed suicide to escape the retaliation and left his daughter and wife to the wolves. She couldn't believe it. Her father with ideals to free the country from its misery was just another tool for the yakuza. He stole money from both the government and the yakuza to life a comfortable live._

The criminals where laughing. Her mother could only whimper, having not enough energy left to cry out loud. Her father had betrayed her. She was still lying there hidden in the closet trying to not make a noise as tears ran down her face. 'How did this happen?' she asked herself 'Are we going to live? What else will happen to us? How will this continue?'

The next thing she saw was confusing, things that shouldn't be possible.

And then she saw destruction.

* * *

Her head felt like it was trying to explode.

She was lying on her futon in a small abandoned warehouse. She shared the place with a few other kids. Most were younger than her, only one was older. Some knew each other beforehand, while the others, like herself, found this place on their own. It was their little sanctuary. It was a safe place where nothing could reach them.

She didn't know it was possible to have such a headache.

Everyone was silent, even Ayano. She was the first person to use this hideout together with her uncle who was paradoxically even younger than her. As her parents died she had moved to her uncle and his abusive parents. Shortly after they ran away and took refuge in here.

She had the headache since yesterday, the day she arrived here.

There were four others with them. One of them was Shuuya, a friend Ayano made on a playground. He came here after his only parent; his mother was murdered by a random burglar. The others were like her. They lost everything they once had and found this little place on their own where they would protect each other.

Thanks to the headache she couldn't even sleep.

Takane was the oldest of them. She fled here from a different city to escape her almost-murderer. Tsubomi, who killed her psychotic father after he murdered her sister, found them while she searched for a place to rest. Kyouske was a homeless orphan and had lost his only friend not so long ago.

Every one of them had powers. Every one of them was alone. Every one of them simply wanted to hide from the cruel world that gave them their trigger events. Everything they had was stolen. The only thing they could do was to protect each other.

And through it all she still carried a secret, a secret about the greatest betrayal and the greatest catastrophe.

* * *

Over the time they got to know each other better. Ayano was charismatic in an optimistically way. She convinced to others to play with her and slowly the mood among them improved. Now they were even sometimes laughing together.

Ayano let the others know that she harbored the desire to become a hero. While most of them didn't share the desire, Takane agreed with her and she found herself reminded of the idealism she had shared with her father which she hadn't really let go even since that day.

After that the three of them found themselves sometimes together discussing ways to became heroes. What originally began as another game soon became a serious discussion as the seventh member joined. They realized that about a third of the people with powers in this city were with them.

The problem was that they almost certainly would lose in a fight. Most of them could only join their group because they had a power that helped them finding them in the first place, like her.

The soon decided to play at their individual strengths. Tsubomi and Shuuya were perfect for infiltration, Ayano and Kyouske could quickly gather information out of people, Takane was with her power an excellent hacker, their new member was a tinker with a focus on information, Hibiya, Ayano's younger uncle, could search and track people and she was their strategist.

"If we cannot fight then let the people fight who can", was the consensus. What at first sounded like a good plan, was quickly turned over its head when Ayano said: "Then let's cover the whole prefecture."

What at first sounded completely unreasonable had a surprising amount of good points. The problem lay in the execution. It was her who made the proposal that would shape the group for the years to come.

"If we are going to play an active part then we should also be open for recruits. We can make it like in the beginning. We provide a sanctuary for those with powers who have nowhere else to go. For those who don't want to join the Yakuza, for those who can't or don't want to fight alone."

Several other proposals were made and incorporated like "Let's screen the new ones before recruiting." And "Let's hide as much information about us as possible.

The last one also gave inspiration for their group's name.

They would call themselves 'Blindfold'.

* * *

It was several months, almost a year later. Blindfold has almost managed to cover his second prefecture, if you could define covered as 'has one or two members in the problem areas, trying to disrupt the local villains'

They had recruited dozens of other people during that time and their popularity was still rising. While they didn't actively show themselves their results were visible for all.

Most of their members were currently in different cities but a few remained, either because they organized and/or didn't need to be anywhere special like their tinkers or simply because they didn't want to do anything.

It was after all one of their best selling points that all work was voluntary.

It was during that time that she told her leaders and friends, Ayano and Takane about the secret she found out during and shortly after her trigger.

After she made her revelation, they were interrupted by someone completely unknown.

* * *

It was the first time she did something completely by herself.

She had failed.

She had left the group with a carefully laid out plan.

It had completely collapsed.

She had left Blindfold because she wanted to use her strength to the fullest.

She had wanted to operate in a way Blindfold could not.

Her friends had depended on her to complete her part.

She had failed them.

She had trusted in her power.

Why had she trusted in her power?

Why had she trusted in something Scion out of everyone had given her?


	2. Chapter 2 - Hiyori Iki

**Chapter 2**

It was around 4pm when Hiyori got the message from the director. Every member had to immediately show up on a meeting. It would be more ominous if she wouldn't be called to an emergency meeting about every month or so but it still meant that she needed to go to the headquarter as fast as possible, so her father drove her there. She wasn't too worried, at least not for herself. She was the only thinker of the Para Guards and she was useless in direct combat so she was kept in the headquarters if a conflict broke out. But that didn't apply to her friends and colleagues and she worried about them.

The only thing which would be worrisome for her was the Villain group known as the Visionaries. The Visionaries made it a point to personally chase every thinker out of the city. That's why Hiyori joined the Para Guard the moment she figured out that she classified as a thinker. They made much publicity in her name so that the Visionaries wouldn't be able to hunt her without losing a great deal of influence.

Her father parked the car and she went to an office building nearby the Para Guards headquarter when she noticed a familiar girl locking her bike at the stand nearby the entrance. "Hey Rinka, I didn't expected you to be here before me." Hiyori called out.

Rinka looked up slightly startled but replied casually "I am disturbed at your lack of faith in my cycling. And besides I live nearby and not like you in the suburbs."

"Yes, yes I know but at this time you are usually training and I know well enough that you would at least take a quick shower before going out, even if we are called to come here."

"You know not all my free time goes to training. Sometimes I have to study to. Especially so after my dad finally gets enough money and expects the same from me when I grow up." said Rinka with a smile. She wasn't good at making Smalltalk but she appreciated my attempts nonetheless. She even relaxed a bit from the tension that hung over the urgent meeting.

During our harmless banter we descended in a staff only elevator to a tunnel leading to the headquarters. The office building was of course owned by the Para Guard and a discreet way to move the uncostumed heroes to and from the headquarters. At the end of the tunnel were the changing rooms, where Rinka and she put on their customs, becoming Spectral and Spirit respectively.

When they finally arrived in the meeting room Hiyori took note of the people who were already there, while taking her seat. Their leader Filare was of course already there, as were Mercy, Transit and Suu. Filare look relatively relaxed. She wasn't the type to show stress so Hiyori wasn't so sure. She also didn't look saddened like with the girl who killed herself by accidently burning her house down with her power. Transit was as always unreadable and Mercy looked pensive but they probably knew about this meeting as much as her. That left only Suu.

Suu was a Case 53, being a cute humanoid slime (For now. She could change her appearance at will) clothed in a raincoat and boots so she wouldn't make anything wet. Leaning closer to her Hiyori asks "How many smarties did you take?"

Being a slime is not Suu's only ability. Another one is that she changes if she alters the things she consists of. Food makes her feel satisfied, soap relaxed and salt well… salty. The 'smarties' are a composition of various minerals that makes her smarter. This thinker power wasn't known to the public also because of the Visionaries.

"Two" she says happily while her 'hair' is forming the number two. Hiyori smiles back at her while gently patting her back. If she'd pet her head instead her hand would just sink into Suu.

One smartie would normally be enough to remove her usual airheadedness and four to make her thinker-smart. Hiyori suspected that she took a second smartie to counter the soap she sometimes drank when she was off-duty. This also meant there wasn't an immediate danger; otherwise someone would have told her to take a few extras.

Hiyori allowed herself to relax a bit and watched as Libra and, shortly after, the director and his officers entered the room.

The flat-screen TV in the room normally used for presentation flickered and Actor showed up on it.

'I was mistaken.' Hiyori thought 'It is serious.'

* * *

When Libra finally arrived it was Actor who spoke up "Now that everyone has arrived I have an announcement to make. As all of you are aware Japans economy isn't declining anymore thanks to the success of the PATEMA (Parahuman Advanced Technology for Economical Mending and Allocation) project. It is still bad enough but with enough time and resources we would be able to manage or even to advance despite everything. In order to do exactly this we have decided to move Singularity to Hachinohe. She will try to build a factory for her anti-grav with the some support of other tinkers"

That was some big news. After Leviathan's appearance and the destruction of Kyushu, Japan was practically reduced to a third-world country. Sea trade completely stopped and the only import came from planes. When the third Endbringer, the Simurgh, showed up even the air trade become too expensive to even support Japan and everything quickly descended to hell.

It was during this time the PATEMA project was desperately launched. At first it was suspected that it wouldn't even last a month but then something short of a miracle happened. Singularity, a Japanese member of the black market tinkers Toybox, joined the effort and constructed the cheap low-altitude-carriers. The LAC's flew with a safety margin between the reaches of both Endbringers.

They were simple metal-containers welded together and loaded with Singularity's anti-gravity-material simply called anti-grav and two gravity projectors for maneuvering and as counter-weigh. If you didn't consider her tinker-tech, which she supplied for free, you had an unbelievable cheap transport vessel. Singularity has saved Japan almost completely by herself and was worshiped for it.

"We choose this city because of two reasons. The first is that Hachinohe was formerly an important trade center with a big chemical and metal industry and thus has all the resources and logistics needed already. The second and more important reason is that Hachinohe has one of the lowest villains per hero's ratio and should be able to protect the factory if the villains get dumb ideas."

It wasn't said that this was because the Visionaries made it a great effort to chase the Yakuza out of the town a few months ago.

"Additionally you will get reinforcement from Warp who will also come here. We hope that she will be able to counter Aperture's power so there wouldn't be great risks from failing to protect Singularity." There were a few surprised looks. While Warp wasn't as famous as Singularity she was still a widely celebrated hero for her single-handed capture of the mass-murder Black Kaze whose kill count was suspected to be twenty-thousand.

At this point the Director took over. "Which is part of the reason all of you are gathered here. We need a strategy if Singularity's factory is attacked by the villains. We'll assume each group will attack with all the firepower they can get. Our biggest concern is the Freedom Alliance. While they wouldn't outright destroy the factory, they will probably use it to blackmail us. As for their leader Aperture we hope that Warp will be effective against him. If not his power is almost perfect to disable us long enough to get hold of the factory."

"Will I be authorized to use lethal force against Aperture if Warp fails?" Transit asks as impassionate as ever while Mercy next to her slightly winces. Despite them being an item there was still some big contrasts between them. Transit put an arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

The director sighs "Yes you may. If we have to choose between two PR disasters then we can at least choose the one where we made some progress. Now let's go on to the other members. Do you have any suggestions?"

At this Filare spoke up. "I could easily take Isolator if the others a distracted and if Collapse attacks I could keep the ceiling from falling down, though I wouldn't be able to defend myself while doing it."

"This would become necessary only if Collapse is even using her power. I think it is more likely that they would blackmail us with her destroying the factory which means we can't have her near it. Luckily she isn't a threat in the open and would hinder her team more than us. The remaining would be Druid and Thief."

Everyone reacted to Transit mentioning the last name at least in some way. Thief wasn't exactly powerful but he was a nightmare to fight even alone. If his ability to briefly steal someone's power wasn't enough to beat his opponents, like for example Spectral, it was always enough for a retreat and that was considering he was alone which he never was. Almost everyone here had confronted him at some time and everyone had lost.

"The problem with Druid is we don't know her power well enough. We don't even know if she really is a Trump. We only know that every time we encountered her she had a Brute and Mover ability and even those varied." Spectral sounded nervous. Her defense was Manton-limited and while she made it a great effort to be an expert in hand-to-hand combat, Druid could still beat her easily.

Surprisingly it was Libra who spoke up. "Then let's start there. She has a Mover rating so only someone fast or ranged would have a chance of stopping her. I am unable to quickly change my course midair. Druid is too fast for Mercy and she would need to hit her several times for her peace-lasers to take effect. Filare would have a chance on capturing her but again she has showed an ability to overcome her bindings which only leaves us with Transit."

"I am ok with that." Transit agreed.

Silence settled down as no one had an idea who could stop Thief.

"Maybe…" Mercy said slowly. "Maybe if I could hit Thief often enough he would be out of the fight for some time"

"Hmm… that isn't really a bad idea. I mean if he stole your ability you just have to hide until it comes back and he wouldn't be able to do much with it." Hiyori said with a glimmer of hope. She didn't like it if her teammates returned from a loss while she wasn't allowed to help in the fight.

"Now that you mention it, in an assault he wouldn't be able to retreat like he did every other time I confronted him" Spectral brought up.

Filare sighed. "Well at least we have a usable strategy against them and if Aperture is out one way or another it shouldn't be too hard to chase off the rest of them. But what do we do about the Visionaries?"

The Visionaries were another sore spot for the Hero's because they were basically untouchable. Through corrupting rich and influential persons they had managed to give the Para Guard a 'hands off' order. It meant they weren't allowed to attack the Visionaries only to defend against them.

"I don't think they would attack the factory. I mean the only good thing about them is they also rely on publicity. They wouldn't gain anything and loose many costumers if they attacked Japans biggest hope."

"But we can't rely on that." Filare replied, letting her grudge against their leader show through. "Maybe the Seer has a plan for it. Maybe she is in this city because she knew Singularity would come here. Maybe all the corrupting was meant to let us believe she won't do anything like you said she would"

"If you insist we could discuss it but please don't let your paranoia get the better of you while on duty. You are our public leader. Don't forget that." Said the Director coldly

"It's not paranoia." whispered Filare while slumping back in her chair.

"Ok has anyone an idea how to counter a precog?" asked the director sarcastically. As no one replied he said "Thought so"

"And what about the rest of the team?" Filare asked somewhat annoyed.

"Well their team mechanic relies heavily on obstruction. I mean Purgatory has her wall of fire, Brainfreeze has her crazy-ice corridor and Disparity has her time bubbles. But if they are somewhere with enough walls they wouldn't be able to do a thing against me." Spectral explains.

"Are you sure you want to go against three powerful shakers alone? Also you are only immune to Brainfreeze's crazy-ice. The others could hit you like normal." Hiyori said worried. She knew that her friend could be a bit reckless in a fight.

"If they are out in the open Libra could try to surprise them by jumping on them" Transit suggests.

"If I need to do that I would do it on Brainfreeze. The others can't harm me; she can." Libra replied.

At this Mercy spoke up with a face that said she didn't really liking the strategy. "Ok we have two reckless teenagers who could take out Brainfreeze and with luck probably Purgatory but what about Disparity?"

After some time of silence it was Suu who spoke up softly "Transit"

Everyone turned their head to her. Somewhat tense she replied "I could do take her out if Purgatory is out at least." This time it was Mercy's turn to put a hand on her shoulder.

With a shake of his head the director continued. "If you are all satisfied let's move to the last team, Minus. Their greatest weakness is that they have only Striker powers, at least the combatants. Their bio-tinker Black White has yet to show herself."

"If that's the case then Filare will be enough to stop them. At least Bookmaker, I don't know how Scar Dead's power works with Filare's ribbons." said Libra. She once confronted Scar Dead and got hit by her power. It looked really gruesome and only with her power did she survive.

"Then let's send Mercy with her if they show up. If Filare distracts them long enough this won't even be a real fight." Spectral said confidently.

"With the teams out of the way let's move on to the solo villains. The currently known are Black Lotus and Red Chain and also a rumored master. Both Black Lotus and Red Chain are known for beating up individuals who they took a disliking to. Especially Black Lotus seems to go after some who are potentially allied with the Visionaries but on the other hand she could just dislike rich people. Red Chain on the other hand is rarely even seen and only acts when angered." The director explained to the team. The reason the Solo's weren't in another team was after all because they had a really low profile. Most of the information was based on witness reports.

"What are their abilities?" Hiyori asks. In all the months she worked here Hiyori had never seen one of them. It was probably because she was mostly active at night.

"Black Lotus transforms into a body made from black blades and Red Chain can make Chains appear somewhere and control them. She uses them to construct walls and escape." The director explained.

Filare seemed to consider the information. "Only Black Lotus would be a concern as she is probably immune to my binds"

"Again you could team up with Mercy. The tactic has and is proven to be effective." Transit said with confidence in her lover.

"In this case Mercy and I will be guarding the factory together. The second team will be Transit and Libra. If you are attack please go on the defense until reinforcements arrive. The third team will be Warp and Spectral."

"Excuse me if I didn't bring up earlier but Warp will be staying with Singularity at the factory. She isn't needed to be teamed up with somebody." Actor supplied helpfully.

"Well that makes things easier. Spectral and Libra change periodically between guard duty and patrols. The same goes for you, Transit, only that you have to switch with Warp to do so. All of you can switch with Warp while guarding if you keep close to the factory. You can also use this as an opportunity to nap."

"What about the city? With this schedule all combatants are either guarding or resting." Hiyori asked with concern.

Instead of Filare it was Actor who spoke up "I will contact Damocles or Octopus if anything serious comes up. And yes Director I will do so discreetly and I will let them know. As for the rumored master, I suggest that we put some cameras on the entrances of the factory as well as some normal guards."

Some people made a grimace at this but no one protested. At this Actor continued.

"Last but not least I have some good news for all of you. While I officially don't know it, I am also here to let you know that two important members of Blindfold are coming with Singularity and Warp. You will also get access to Searcher if you got something helpful."

Most showed a sing of relive at the news. Blindfold was originally a group of people who didn't wanted to fight with their abilities or at least not in a battle. Most of the members were either thinkers or masters. Blindfold usually sent one or two active members to cities with many conflicts and war. Then the members usually focused on gathering and selling crucial information about villains and selling them to rivals.

The tactic proofed successful despite the thinly distribution of their members. Additionally they made great publicity in the internet and coupled with the fact that there was no concrete information about them, they quickly became quite famous. After the founding of the Para Guard, Blindfold became almost instantly a treasured ally. After a year of cooperation Blindfold was declared to be an independent government organization in the formal exchange for Actor.

Actor was a woman who could turn into an AI program. Her speed, multi-tasking and organization skills were on of the greatest assets the Para Guards had, if not the greatest. Actor still kept in contact with Blindfold for things like the aforementioned Searcher with the power to find the owner of things presented to him. He was constantly overflown with request to track important villains.


	3. Chapter 3 - Ryouko Shizuki

**Chapter 3**

Ryouko was tense. Since three hours she was anticipating an attack to the convoy she was moving with. She knew that many attempts for secrecy were made but in a world with superpowers it was foolish to rely on anything. She even imported some containment foam grenades from Canada. Not only was it hard to get them, it was also difficult to get TO Canada even for a teleporter like herself. And of course she loaded as much needed goods as she could teleport with her on her way back. It was not the first time she played trans-continental courier but she had hoped that wouldn't be necessary anymore.

The other passenger on the contrary was quite busy with her Laptop and sketch block drawing formulas, schematics and other drafts. Still every now and then she would look up to Ryouko and smile when she looked back.

"It is to quiet." Ryouko murmurs, making her impatience known. Even if their move wasn't officially announced she still expected an attack at least an hour after they left the former facility. It was just how things were currently in Japan and jet nothing happened.

"Oh, quit being so nervous. That's not like you at all. We are already in the city so just try to relax. I bet we are only minutes away from the factory." said Asami with a frown, looking up from her work again.

"You know that is exactly why it is to quiet. I would have fully expected at least one of the villains here to attack us, especially the one group with the precog."

Asami sighs at Ryouko "You are aware that my relocation here is still a secret."

Ryouko only gives Asami a flat look in response and they laps into silence again. After a few minutes the truck slowly comes to a halt, suggesting they had finally arrived. As they get out they are greeted with the sight of the building which would house the factory Asami would build. Filare stood in front of the building, happily awaiting them.

Ryouko knew Filare by Reputation alone. Filare wasn't the current leader of Hachinohe because of her long service but because of her accomplishments. She could create long strands of fabric, often referred to as ribbons, and controlled them with great strength and precision. It was often enough to restrain even mid-level brutes. Since tranquilizers usually took too long to take effect, there were only a few ways to actually catch someone in combat without using lethal force. Filare's ability was in that regard a godsend highly valued. The difficulty to defend against it was also another part in her reputation. Adding the fact that she was a superb team leader, she got official leadership in record time.

"Welcome to Hachinohe Singularity, Warp. I am glad to notice that your journey wasn't interrupted." Filare greeted them politely. Ryouko was about to sneak a teasing glance to Asami when a new voice suddenly cut in the conversation.

"Yeah we took care of that part. No need to thank us though." said a lazy voice behind them. When they turned around they saw instead of the driver two men coming out of the driver's side of the truck who wore normal street clothes and most importantly masks. Asami tensed and Ryouko immediately teleported behind them, raised her crossbow and looked for suitable structures to trap them under.

Upon seeing this reaction the other one said curtly "Relax. We are with you". Only at hearing the voice did Ryouko notice that the second man was in fact a woman

While Ryouko was hesitating Filare who hasn't shown any reaction at the arrival of the intruders calmly asked "You must be from Blindfold then, I presume?"

"That is correct" the woman replied "You can call me Concealer and this idiot over there Deceiver."

"I am Filare. It is a pleasure to meet you." Filare bowed slightly "Although may I ask why you disguised yourself as the driver?" Unspoken was the question how they even managed something like this. It probably had something to do with their abilities.

"We made sure that the convoy wouldn't be attacked. Also we didn't inform any of this until the last minute to throw off possible leaks."

"Well that seems reasonable but could you please someone in advance of your surprises."

While the three introduced themselves Asami slowly went to Ryouko's side. "They didn't tell us anything during the drive, did they?" she asked hesitantly. Ryouko turned her head to look at her. "No, they didn't" She slightly regretted that Asami had a full face helmet because recently she would often try to read the expression on her face but now only a purple reflection of her was visible.

"Ah, sorry about that we kinda forgot" Completely taken off guard Ryouko jerked her head to her right only to see the guy that was named Deceiver standing next to her. Still a bit suspicious she took a step away from him. Asami on the other hand just tilted her head and asked "What do you mean 'you kinda forgot'?"

"Well, after we got into the van Concealer was all busy concealing us and I had to drive but after a while it just got boring and I switched on the radio and the played a really fancy song. So I tried to sing along but then Concealer punched me and I was like 'Hey be careful, I am driving' and she was like 'Then concentrate on the road and not on the song' and then I was like 'But the song is really funky and I want to sing along' and she was like –"

"Alright, alright we get it" Ryouko interrupted exasperated, or at least tried to. "- and between the all the arguing, the pain of being punched into the stomach and the radio and everything we kinda forgot." Deceiver finished while he gestured with his arms. He had a really expressive body language.

Asami giggled at the rapid fire response. "Your apology is accepted" was her response. Ryouko meanwhile thought about how she missed their bickering but in the end she blamed it on the radio. Asami even had asked to turn it off during the drive. Apparently it had become difficult to concentrate for her.

They silently watched as Filare and Concealer seemed to come to an agreement. Deceiver didn't say anything further until Filare asked if they would come to the headquarters with her for introduction and coordinating.

"Nah, we are going to give the local big bad's a visit" was his completely carefree reply.

"What?" was Asami's response. Filare tilted her head questioningly and Ryouko frowned in confusion. Not that the others could see it through her pilot helmet.

"Well you see, the gangs often have these gatherings and we will just walk in there and see what they are doing. Maybe they are making a party!" he explained cheerfully. The others still did not really understand what he meant.

"We specialize in stealth and infiltration" clarified Concealer. She seemed both used to the odd antics of her partner and exasperated. Asami made a quite 'oooh' and Filare nodded as in approval.

"Anyway, we are going to inform you if we find anything interesting." Added Concealer and left with her partner. Ryouko noticed that she tried to keep her replies short, even when speaking with Filare earlier.

They watched as the two members of Blindfold left with a cheerful 'Bye-bye' from Deceiver and they suddenly disappeared as if they were never there.

They stood there a bit befuddled until they heard someone cry out for Filare. As they turned around the saw a girl with a white and pink ballerina-esque dress and a bright pink visor glasses approaching them from the building.

"Greetings Singularity, Warp" she said before turning her head to Filare. "Why didn't you tell me they had arrived." She asked with only a hint of annoyance.

"I called out to you when they arrived." Said Filare confused.

"I didn't hear anything. You just suddenly disappeared and I was searching for you."

Surprisingly Filare made a face of realization instead of confusion. "I suppose Concealer created some sort of Stranger-field around us. In order for me to notice their arrival she had to include me in it too." She explained to the rest.

"Who is Concealer?" was the confused reply of Filare's colleague.

"She is one of the people Blindfold sent here. They have already left." She explained. With a smirk she added "Anyway it is rude to not introduce yourself to your new colleagues, Mercy."

"Oh, right, I am sorry. I - you can call me Mercy. Pleased to meet you" she said flustered while bowing in front of them.

"Likewise" said Asami a little bemused. Ryouko just nodded at her as she rose again.

"She can shoot lasers, that make the target less violently to the point that they stop fighting entirely if she hits them often enough." Added Filare

"How often does she need to hit in order to make others stop fighting?" asked Ryouko immediately. Asami turned her head to her in what Ryouko supposed to be a frown. She really didn't like the full-face helmets.

"Around five to ten times depending on the person." Mercy answered directly.

"That seems quite useful." complimented Ryouko, trying to cover her minor misconduct. Mercy gave her a smile in response.

"Anyway why don't you show us around the factory." asked Asami.

* * *

Asami's personal workshop covered almost half of the building. It had only two possible entrances with one leading to the loading dock with several roller shutters in between. The personnel entrance was designed to be like a maze and led to the rest of the building.

The rest were old offices, some of which were repurposed to provide living room. Ryouko and Asami had different rooms though Ryouko noticed that Asami's room could easily handle two people.

While 'office romances' were officially frowned upon it was often ignored when it involved people with powers. But this was the first time for Ryouko that it was even subtly encouraged. She snorted at the thought.

Asami immediately started tinkering and promised to make her own additions for the security system. Meanwhile Ryouko made her familiar with the environment and unpacked their belongings to arrange them.

As she started to unpack Asamis bag because she would be too busy with tinkering as always, Filare approached her.

"The next guard shift is here and I would like to introduce them to you." she simply informed her.

"Alright." said Ryouko nor sure what else to say.

"Also while we are at it I would like to show you the rest of our team at the headquarters if that is alright with you." Filare added

"I guess so but let me inform Asami first."

"You can ask her while we introduce to others to her"


End file.
